Willard c



(No Model.) I

- 0. LIFE.

No. 510,035.-. I Patented Dec. 5, 1893'.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. i

WILLARD 0. LIFE, OF, SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

NAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 510,035, dated December 5, 1893.

Application filed March 11, 1893. seen No. 465,498. (No model.)

To 015 whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLARD G. L1PE, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Nails, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in nails, and has for its object the production of an economically manufactured nail, which firmly engages the article into which it is inserted, and resists to a maximum degree any force applied for withdrawing the same from said article; and to this end it consists, essentiall y, in a body and spiral ribs or projections upon the body provided with a series of transverse grooves, and in the detail construction and arrangement of the parts, all as hereinafter more particularly described and pointed out in the claims.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which like letters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a nail constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 ,is a sectional view of a pair of opposing cutters or grooving tools for forming the engaging ribs or projections upon the body of the nail, and Figs. 3 and 4 are elevations of the detached cutters or grooving tools shown at Fig. 2.

It is well known that nails, and particularly those constructed of wire are more or less liable to be readily withdrawn from the article into which they are inserted, and that, for the purpose of obviating this result, wire nails have sometimes been provided with a series of teeth of similar construction formed by opposing dies or other similar contrivances. My invention is differentiated from such nails in that its body is provided with spirally extending ribs or projectionswhich give the nail a slighttwisting motion when entering, and which are transversely grooved for enabling the fiber of the article in which the nail is inserted to engage said ribs and prevent a ready withdrawal of the nail.

The body A of my improved nail is, at Fig. 1, shown as circular in cross section, and

as provided with a rounding head -a-- and a tapering point a', but it will be evident that the body or its head may be otherwise formed, and that the exact contour of said parts forms no material feature of my invention.

BB are spirally extending ribs or projections formed upon the body -A and preferably only upon its lower extremity, although it is evident that the entire body may be provided with said ribs. These ribs BB are preferably formed by swaging outwardly portions of the outer surface of the body, as will be presently described, and are preferably each formed with transverse grooves bb. The grooves bb preferably extend spirally across the ribs BB but they may extend in a straight line across said ribs if desired. As the nail is inserted the ribs -B-B give the same a slight twisting movement, and, after the nail is in position, the fiber of the article into which the nailis inserted enters the grooves bb, and the nail resists to a maximum degree the force applied for effecting its withdrawal. The nail is free to twist when entering the article into which it is being driven, since the spiral ribs B-B- extend to the base of its point, and act as threads, and, as

the ribs B-B do not extend to the head of the nail, the friction against said article of the nail body, and particularly that portion thereof unprovided with theribs greatly accelerates the action of the transverse grooves b b, and the nail is thereby effectually prevented from turning. Indeed in practically inserting a nail into a fibrous article it turns slightly in entering with comparative freedom, and,when withdrawn, the transverse grooves of its spiral ribs are filled with broken pieces of the fiber of said article.

To further facilitate the entrance of the nail the grooves bbare preferably formed of less depth thantheheight of theribs -B-B, but it will be evident that, without materially departing from my invention, said grooves b-b may be as deep as the height of the It is evident that the ribs -B-B- may be formed by any suitable cutting or swaging apparatus, and I have here illustrated a very simple construction which economically, practoo tically, and effectively swages said ribs upon the nail body -A. This mechanism consists of a rotary tool c having a cylindrical cutting or swaging face o'-- and a stationary tool -c having a concavely curved cutting or swaging face -o slightly separated from the face c for permitting'th'e entrance of the nail between said tools.

As best seen at Fig. 3 the face --o'-- of the tool c is provided with diagonally extending ribs or cutting projections --o, and the face -c of the cutting tool c is formed -c may be provided with cutting ribs crossing the ribs -c diagonally for lengthwisely' grooving the ribs-BB' of the nail, or the cutting ribs for forming the ribs-B-B' upon the nail body may beformed by the stationaryinstead of the" rotarycutter.

ing rotary cuttershaving theircontiguous faces" moving at unequal speedinstead of between a stationary anda rotarycutter.

The' described cnttingor swaging appara tus is a particularly simple and practical means forforming theengaging surface upon the body A-- of my improved nail, but it is evident that said surface maybe otherwise produced, andthat my invention is not limited to any' particular construction of mechanism for manufacturing the same;

The operation of my invention willbe readily perceived-from the foregoing description anduponreference to'the drawings; it will beparticularly noted that the bodyof the nail is not cut away, but that itssurface is merely swaged or upturnedfor forming spirally extending, ribs -B; that these ribs aret-ransversely grooved, and that the nailis economically'manufactu red, iseasily entered, and is withdrawn only with considerable difficulty.

Moreover the nail may be passed betweenoppos- Havinglthus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to' secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, the herein described nail, the same comprising a body, and a swaged spiral rib or projection upon the bodyprovidedwith'aseries of transverse grooves, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, the here in described nail, the same comprising a body, and a series of lengthwise parallel ribs or pro j ections upon the bodyprovidedwith a series of spiral grooves of less depth than the height of the ribs, substantially as specified.

3. As a new article of manufacture, the herein described nail, the same comprising a body,

'anda'series of parallel swaged ribs-extendin g spirally upon the body and provided with transverse spirally extending grooves, sub* stantially as set forth.

4; As a newarticle of man ufacture; the herein described nail, the same comprisinga body,

and lengthwise spirally extendingribslupon the body provided with transverse oppositely extending grooves, formed of less depth than the height of said ribs, substantially asand for the purpose described;

5. As a new article of manufacture, the herein describednail, thesame being composed of a body having a plurality of swaged transversely grooved spiral ribs or projections on itssurface, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6, Asa newarticle of manufacture, the'herein described nail, the same comprising a body provided with a tapering point, a head, and a plain upper end extending downwardly from the head, and transversely grooved spiral ribs extending upwardly from saidtaperingpoint, to the lowerextremityof theupper plain end of the nail, substantially as and for the pur pose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto" signed my name, in the presence of twoattes'cing witnesses, at Syracuse, in the county'of- :Onondaga, in the State of NewYork this 9th day of March, 1893.

.WILLARD 0. LIFE. Vitnesses:

CLARK H. NoR'roN, E. A. WEISBURG. 

